RESEARCH PROPOSAL: The proposed research will contribute to the literature on doctor-patient communication and racial disparities in health care. The specific aims of the research are to: 1) explore how race-concordance affects the opening segment of medical visits through qualitative assessment of audio taped recordings; 2) validate the constructs identified in qualitative analysis through development and testing of a quantitative scale to assess the level of common understanding (CU) between doctors and patients within the first 90 seconds of medical visits; and 3) analyze the mediating effects of racial consciousness on the relationship between race-concordance, CU, patient-centeredness, patient satisfaction, and patient participation. The proposed research involves two phases of secondary data analysis: First, the researcher will use qualitative methods to assess the first 90 seconds of audio taped medical visits to identify themes associated with CU. Themes identified will be used to create a quantitative scale for coding CU, which will be applied to a second wave of audio taped visits. Furthermore, psychometric properties of the CU scale will also be assessed. CU and race consciousness are hypothesized to modify the effects of race concordance on patient-centeredness, participation in medical care, and satisfaction with medical care. These hypotheses will be tested using regression models and structural equation modeling techniques.